Yorkshire Puddings

I find Yorkshire pudding quite intriguing. I actually thought it was a dessert. I can be forgiven for thinking such. It's called a pudding after all. But then again, the British also have "black pudding" which is anything but.

Yorkshire pudding is the classic accompaniment to roast beef. It's like pancake batter cooked in the oven to make the most of the drippings from the roast. For a lighter version (like mine) use sunflower oil as an alternative.

I've never made these before but the recipes I've read looked simple enough I did not hesitate making them when we had roast beef for dinner last Sunday evening.

In hindsight I think I would have had a better result using self raising flour. Mine just did not rise high enough. It wasn't a complete disaster. My son couldn't get enough of them as a matter of fact. But if you're going to try the recipe below use self raising flour instead.

Yorkshire Puddings

150g plain flour
pinch of salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
Sunflower oil




1. Sift flour and salt in a large bowl.
2. Add the egg.
3. Add the milk a little at a time making sure everything is well mixed together. Set aside for at least an hour.
4. Place a bit of oil in about 12 individual muffin tins.
5. Heat tins in a 220C oven for a few minutes.
6. Pour the batter into the tins about half to three quarters of the way up.
7. Lower the heat to 180C and bake for about 25 minutes.

Churros…not quite

I’m not a sweet tooth but one kind of dessert I almost find irresistible is “fried dough”. By this I mean donuts and its plethora of flavours and variations.

It’s no secret to people who know me well how much I love Krispy Kreme’s Original glazed. I used to request for flights that will stop in Sydney only so I’ll be able to bring home (at least) half a dozen boxes of these heavenly rings! They’re so high in sugar they freeze really well. A few seconds in the microwave and voila, it’s as good as fresh. Thank God they’ve opened shops in Brisbane I don’t need to go through so much trouble anymore.





Another favourite is the Spanish churros. The main point of difference from the traditional donut is the fact that this one is straight, has ridges and fried till almost crisp. It is then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. You usually eat this with a cup of thick hot chocolate.

Well, at 9pm on a wintry Friday night I was craving both but did not have access to either. What to do?!?!?!?! Whip something up, of course!

The recipe below is for choux pastry (commonly used to make profiteroles/cream puffs). I can’t remember where I got to idea to fry them. I don’t know if it was from TV or some magazine but I have been frying choux for years. Roll the fried choux in cinnamon sugar and voila (I should stop saying this..), it’s just as satisfying as churros if not more ‘cause I get to eat them hot and fresh!


Fried Choux Pastry with Cinnamon Sugar

1 cup water
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
4 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
Cinnamon to taste
Oil for frying

1. Boil, water, butter, sugar and salt in a saucepan.
2. Add the flour in one full swoop.
3. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon until mixture forms a tick, smooth ball that leaves the side of the pan clean, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until dough is shiny and smooth.
5. Heat up some oil in low to medium heat.
6. Use spoons, bare hands or a piping bag to make shapes you like and drop them straight to the hot oil. Looking at the photos you’ll see mine is a bit “free form”. I used two spoons. The piping bag with the right nozzle will give you the ridge effect like on the churros.
7. Fry until golden brown.
8. Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle onto the fried pastry.
9. Eat fresh with your favourite hot beverage.

Home Made Pizzas (with the kids)

I have failed so many times in the past in making edible pizza dough that we’d have pizza at home only if they are delivered by an acne-faced uni student or I pick them up myself on cheap Tuesday nights! But thanks once again to Ms Eufemia C Estrada’s Baking Made EC cookbook this situation has now changed for good. For the first time ever we’ve made our very own pizzas from scratch. I say we, as I did ask the kids to help out. We’d still have cheap Tuesday pizzas, of course, but we now have an alternative when we have more time.

All weekends are good but the last one we had was more suitable for indoor activities than anything else. It was the perfect occasion to get the kids involved in the kitchen. They were only too happy to help as they have been looking forward to this since I mentioned “make-our-own-pizzas” months and months ago.

I made the dough and blind baked 5 mini pizza sizes. It was then the kids’ task to finish off their own versions. I try to limit the choice of toppings. We almost always order only pepperoni pizza so a very good mild Hungarian salami was on top of the list. There was cheese of course, a good blend of tasty, mozzarella and a bit of parmesan. Then there were ham, bacon, sun-dried tomatoes, onion and basil. They pretty much ignored everything else and concentrated on the cheese and the salami.

Chichay's Alien Pizza

Yaya's Pricess Pizza

Kiko's "No-Name" Pizza

The end result was pretty good. The kids ate theirs with gusto. Them taking part in the cooking made the pizzas a little bit tastier!

The recipe below is copied, verbatim, from Ms Estrada’s Baking Made EC cookbook.

Basic Pizza Crust

½ cup scalded milk or ¼ cup evaporated milk plus ¼ up warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup warm water
2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
2 ¾ cup all purpose flour, sifted

1. To scalded or warm milk, stir in the sugar, salt and olive oil. Cool to lukewarm.
2. Dissolve the yeast in warm water. Let stand to rise. Add lukewarm milk.
3. Stir in sifter flour. Turn out on lightly floured board or tabletop and knead until smooth and elastic. Place in greased bowl; turn over to coat dough in oil. Cover and let rise until double in bulk. It is double in bulk when indentation made with two fingers do not fill up again.
4. Punch down dough and divide into half. Shape each half into a ball and roll out into a 13-inch circle on a lightly floured surface.
5. Place on two lightly greased pizza pans or cookie sheets. Fold under ½-inch all around edges. 6. Bake immediately in hot oven (425F to 450F) for about 5 minutes or until dough is firm but not brown.

Finish off with your choice of toppings and put back in the oven for another 10-15 minutes!

Australia – the Food Icons - Hot Cross Buns

This post is a few days too late. It was meant for Easter but I enjoyed the extra long weekend too much to bother ‘bout doing anything else.

Hot Cross Buns are not uniquely Australian but they feature prominently in the Antipodeans’ Easter celebrations that I think it should be up there with the other food icons I’ve blogged about before (follow them all here: Australia – The Food Icons).

I do not know if there is a law preventing sale of the said buns after Easter but sure enough you’ll have difficulty finding any outside the season.

Traditional hot cross buns are sweet spiced bread chockfull of currants and/or other dried fruits. The distinguishing feature, naturally, is the cross on top of every bun as a symbol of the crucifixion of Christ.

Nowadays though, you can get all sorts of varieties of this much loved Easter bun. Well, there are four main ones: traditional fruit, fruit & peel, fruitless, and choc chip. Yes, there is a chocolate chip version the rationale being the close association of chocolates with Easter.

Thank God for the fruitless variety as the missus is not so fond of fruit in bread

They’re best fresh out of the oven smothered with “real” butter.

I don’t have a recipe for this but I recently stumbled upon a Greek Tsoureki Style Hot Cross Bun that looks and probably tastes better than the traditional one. Just follow the link to Souvlaki For The Soul.

Pan de Sal Chronicles: A Session with the Master

It was a birthday celebration with a difference indeed. Instead of the ho-hum common garden variety party, Alex's family held a pan de sal (and more) workshop. Fun was had by all...with free baked goodies to take home to top it all. It is not surprising if the guests had more fun than the birthday celebrant.

Pan de sal was the main event but part of the workshop was a session on the secrets of Spanish bread (beats me why this is called such). Time was also set aside on the mysteries of monay, that Filipino bread that is a cross between a dinner roll and a hamburger bun. (Tip: Your pan de sal dough can quickly transform into either Spanish Bread or Monay with just a bit of tweaking.)

Tatay Rudy's masterful skills were on display beheld by all. His movements were punctuated by tips on how to do it better and/or quicker. They were undeniably invaluable lessons he’s learned from decades of baking.

I tell you what, even with a full load of tips and tricks I don’t think my current “style” comes close to that of Tatay Rudy’s…marami pa akong bigas na kakainin, ika nga…ilang bandehadong pan de sal pa ang lulutuin…before I attain his level of dexterity.

So thanks Alex, thanks to the Samson family and most specially to Tatay Rudy!

I don’t want to bore you with more narrative so just look at the photos and you’ll get the picture...;)

The master’s hand at work

The dough

The risen dough (quadrupled in size more likely than just doubled)

Look how even those pieces are! It’s not as easy as it looks!

Ready to bake Monay

The beginnings of Spanish Bread

The filling

The rolling

Ready to bake!

The Monay!

The Spanish Bread!

And of course, the pan de sal!

Some people were having more fun!

And some were nitpicking!

The Master at work!

The happy students!

Thanks Tatay Rudy!

Pan de Sal Chronicles: Wood in Action

This post is a continuation of my pan de sal adventures. I should have labelled them My Pan de Sal Chronicles knowing fully from the first post that there'll be more to come. Surely enough this is the 5th instalment in my quest to make the perfect pan de sal.

I think there is no better way to show ones sincerest appreciation of a gift than actually using it. So, for the first time last night I've put to good use my new dough cutter. It was fantastic! Not only did I use it in making my favourite breakfast bread (my kids' name for pan de sal) and its variations it proved to be quite handy as well in making ensaymada (Yes, I was up till the wee hours of the morning baking for this week's baons). I suppose, it's a very good all-around dough cutter. Thanks Tatay Rudy once again!

I'm not going to bore you with more narrative. So instead what I've got here are a series of photographs showing the wood in action!

To make sure my cutter is never lonely I've introduced it to my good 'ol friend the rolling pin... their similarities are quite uncanny, don't you think?

This is actually an ensaymada dough. I’ve used the cutter to divide it into pieces before rolling.

First ever cut of my pan de sal dough. The dough is divided into three strips.

The strips are then cut into pan de sal sized pieces

Ready for baking!

Ode to a Piece of Wood

Some of you are probably thinking I must have gone mad writing about a piece of wood. It’s probably the lack of sleep that’s causing this, some might say (well, I’m getting more Z’s lately so that’s not it!). And then some might wonder it probably is a metaphor for my profession which is often viewed as inflexible and humourless. I am a bean counter after all.

No, this is neither a dissertation on the parallels of accounting and a piece of wood nor am I going mad…well, maybe I am but that’s not the point! This "thing" is actually a gift from a friend’s father who’s had quite an influence in my recent baking exploits.

Tatay Rudy has got decades of baking experience under his belt owning and operating a bakery in the suburbs of Valenzuela for years. I did not know this at first but one time when we invited his family over for dinner (with pan de sal on the menu) he observed my pan de sal methodology quite intently. He was probably laughing inside seeing how clumsy some of my steps were. He was kind enough to show me some tricks of the trade. He’s also realised that I was missing a very essential tool!

Being the kind hearted man that he is he made me my very own pan de sal dough cutter…by hand! Isn’t that special! Well, I certainly felt special! It is one gift that I will treasure for a very long time.

The ingenuity of the Filipino is definitely not lost in Tatay Rudy. No new trees were hurt in making my cutter. Also, not having his woodworking implements here he’s made use of what’s available, including the concrete floor! I think it’s great and very earth friendly!

is that a prophecy?

So, from the bottom of my heart I would like to say, Maraming, maraming salamat po! I do hope to become a good baker…someday!